Omnidimension Neptunia: Infinite Memes Chapter 9: 9 - Date of the Deathmatch! Uni Appears!, a hyperdimension neptunia fanfic

All rights are reserved to their respective owners. I own nothing in this piece of fiction except my OCs and the story itself.

"Gravity?... Next thing you'll tell me the world shall know pain." The assassin assumed as he currently pulled on his kusarigama, trying not to show his growing strain as he wrestled for his weapon.

His muscles strained as he gritted his teeth through his shut mouth, but Nebula wouldn't budge from the tension.

"Really? I'm not nearly that powerful... Nor have that much of a god complex. Yet." The blue-haired savior continued the banter as he kept the blade in his hand.

"But who am I to assume that." The meme lord finished the topic before moving on as he looked at the blade.

TUG!

SKID!

"So, could you tell me why you were trying to kill my friend? Or you wanna do this the hard way?" The god asked as he tugged on the chain a bit, causing the assassin to be pulled forward a bit.

"Actually, I'm here to kill you. But, your accomplice got in the way, so he had to go." The hitman dropped the bomb as he stopped struggling.

"Oh? Didn't know I was that popular." Nebula raised a brow as he use his free hand to cup his chin as he looked up.

"...Or infamous-" AL gargled.

"Aren't you bleeding out?" Nebula and the assassin both asked AL at the same time, which prompted him to be still as he clung to life in silence.

"Right. You were the person I was ordered to kill, and that's what's gonna happen." The hitman clarified with conviction.

"I highly doubt that. Are you serious?" Nebula joked as he still looked at the blade.

BZZT!

CLANG!

The blade then sent a current that caused Nebula to drop it as the assassin rushed forward.

"Ow!" The adventurer hissed.

ZOOM!!!

PUNCH!

The silver-eyed hired killer closed the distance with his aura in a heartbeat to strike his target, but he faltered at the last second as a fist was driven into his face, sending him flying back.

"Unf!" The assassin grunted as he was decked in the schnoz as he fell to the floor almost instantly.

He got up, before wiping his mouth and spitting out some blood.

"Ptoo." He spat, before grimacing.

KICK!

DODGE!

YANK!!!

WOOSH!

"I asked if you were serious. Never got a response." Nebula repeated himself as he kicked the blade towards the assassin. The assassin dodged the kusarigama blade with a roll before using the handle and directing the blade back at Nebula.

JUMP!

SLASH!!!

DODGE!

SLICE!!!

DODGE!

SWIPE!!!

DODGE!

ZIP!!!

DODGE!

Nebula simply jumped up as he moved to the left with his gravity, to dodge another slice. Then to the right, then back, and then forward.

WOOSH!!!

The assassin then brought the blade down to a lying AL, which would cause the god to outstretch his hand as he attracted the blade. But as he attracted it made contact, his hand, he would be electrocuted.

ATTRACTION!

CLUTCH!-

"!" Nebula reacted as he used his Attraction.

BZZT!!!

"OW!" The airborne CPU yelled out in pain as he let go.

YANK!-

ATTRACTION!!!

HALT!

The hitman showed a sinister snigger as he sent the sickle back down towards AL again. The god quickly used his Attraction to pull the blade back, but stopped right when it was supposed to make contact with his hand.

REPULSION!!!

AURA!

VANISH!!!

He instead used Repulsion and checked the blade in the direction of the assassin, who became enveloped in a whitish aura, dodging.

LAND!

ROUNDHOUSE KICK!

"So he can use KI as well, or at least something similar... Great." Nebula muttered as he landed next to the hitman before going for a roundhouse kick.

DODGE!

The hitman even in his injured state, still effectively dodged the blow. Nebula tried to go for a straight, followed by a right hook, with an uppercut, that finished with a front kick with a KI blast behind it.

STRAIGHT!

REDIRECT!!!

RIGHT HOOK!

DUCK!!!

UPPERCUT!

BACKSTEP!!!

KICK!

BLOCK!!!

BLAST!

BOOM!

SKID!...

The hired killer ended up redirecting the straight, ducking the hook, backstepping the uppercut, and blocking the kick but got launched back by the KI blast.

The assassin wasted no time, as he was so close to the man he was sent to kill, and wouldn't give up when he finally got the chance to kill him.

SLASH!

WEAVE!

SLICE!

DODGE!

COUNTER SLASH!

SIDESTEP!

OVERHEAD SLASH!

SIDESTEP!

LATERAL SLICE!

DUCK!

The stranger retracted his kusarigama into its sickle state as he slashed and hacked at Nebula, trying to get a good hit in, but the god did not stay still for that to happen.

SLASH!

TEAR!

Only a piece of fabric from his hoodie would be ripped from the assassin's assault.

"Yikes! Not the drip!" He wailed.

Nebula internally wept as his hoodie had now been assassinated by the hitman's sickle.

DASH!

ZOOM!

PHASE!!

VANISH!!

WOOSH!!!

FWOOSH!!!

"Watch where you swing that blade, fam!" Nebula complained as they moved around as blurs, with the assassin always near missing every time he got close to the CPU.

"STAY STILL SO I CAN KILL YOU!" The silver-haired hitman yelled as he slashed over and over again, only to cut through the air each time.

SLICE!!!

REEL!!!

"But I'm not moving that fast. You're just slow 'cause AL beat the shit out of you before you got to me." Nebula explained as he dodged another slash.

"And where is he now? On the floor, bleeding to death." The hitman responded, peeved.

"At least I don't look like I belong in a shoujo manga-" AL was IMMEDIATELY cut off.

PRESS!

"SHUT!" The assassin snarled as he switch to kusarigama mode as he threw the blade towards AL, after missing Nebula for the 47th time.

WOOSH!!!

"UP!" He finished as the blade sailed towards AL.

ATTRACTION!!!

It was attracted by Nebula as it changed its trajectory towards the two of them. The assassin would then take this opportunity that his target was distracted to pinpoint strike his opponent in the arm.

AL saw what was about to happen, but wouldn't have the strength to call out to his friend to watch out.

All he could do on the floor was curse in anxiety.

"Oh shit-" AL saw it coming.

STRIKE!

SPLIT!

WOOSH!

The two then dodged the kusarigama blade by moving back so that the blade would zip by them, wind rushing behind it.

The hitman looked at Nebula's right arm, waiting for some kind of reaction from it. Nebula just looked at his arm in confusion and bewilderment as AL looked in fear. The three of them would be looking at his arm like a doctor, an intern nurse from med school, and an injured patient.

...

CLANG!

The kusarigama blade hit the ground before rattling. They just stayed there as the two dropped to the ground as they looked at Nebula's arm. Then the afflicted party spoke.

"What the hell was that supposed to do?" The adventurer held in a laugh with a comedic question mark above his head, as AL had one with an exclamation mark behind it, and the assassin had three whole exclamation points above his head.

!!!

"H-How!? Your arm should have violently exploded by now!" The assassin expected as he gawked at him in shock.

STANCE!

"Well, I have a little 'invisible shield', if you will. Repels plenty of things. Guess your hand was one of them, bro." Nebula brought up as he would get back in a stance.

"Tch!" The hitman narrowed his eyes as he scrunched his face up in anger.

He then snarled.

His weapon did next to nothing other than electrocuting his target, his martial art becoming ineffective against him, and suffering from serious burns and wounds before his fight with the target meant that his battle would be extremely difficult to win.

Not to mention, that he might be even stronger than his friend from what his demeanor and energy signature implied. He was tired, outgunned, and frankly outmatched.

He had one more trick up his sleeve. It might have been stupid in foresight, but at least then he knew that he tried everything.

VANISH!!!

"?!" Nebula reacted to the disappearance of the assassin, and more so when he returned his silenced G18, the gun's slide pointed down, meaning that he had in on full auto.

REAPPEAR!

AIM!

And with a pull of the trigger-

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW!!!

"HOLY-" AL's eyes widened in abject horror.

"-SHIT!" Nebula finished as he acted with no time to spare.

GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!

GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!

GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!

GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!

GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!

The adventurer quickly took out his hand as he caught every single bullet.

Not a single round was lost as in a display of unreal reaction time, grabbed every single object that flew into his direction.

PEW!

GLOW!

DISTORT!

PEW!

The hitman did not stop his continuous rate of fire, as the bullets that were fired were returned to him via his aura, as the shells in Nebula's hand moved back towards the gun before distorting as they had been placed back in the magazine in a glowing white light, similar to how he had healed himself prior.

VANISH!-

REAPPEAR!

VANISH!-

REAPPEAR!

VANISH!-

REAPPEAR!

His position never stayed in one place for long as he continuously moved, shooting from behind the target, to above him, to even his sides as he randomly moved to each of these directions to attempt to disorient Nebula.

This cycle continued for a solid two minutes as the tense battle wasn't heard, but was definitely felt by those present as the hitman's trigger finger was stuck like glue.

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW!-

JAM!!!

It was only when his gun jammed, that he finally ceased.

GLOW!

PEW!

CATCH!!!

"Tch!" The hired killer grumbled as his gun jammed on him. He made the weapon glow before aiming one more shot between the eyes of Nebula, which was effectively caught with two fingers.

"Jeez... What in the corrupted save file was that?!" The targeted adventurer asked, spooked as he was sweating bullets.

No pun intended.

"..." The assassin remained quiet as he lowered his gun, the silencer smoking with the sheer amount of bullets that were shot through it.

He truly was out of options. The silver-haired hitman closed his eyes before taking a deep breath, as he opened them again. He had to make a tactical withdrawal, as much as it hurt his pride.

But if he was going to retreat, it would be with some foreboding message to make him quake, and save face.

"Alright. I'd say you're more trouble than you're worth, but the price on your head says otherwise. You've earned yourself 24 hours, Nebula." The fatal stranger sucked up his loss as he dropped his snarl and closed his eyes as he stood up straight with an unreadable expression.

"Me? I think you're talking about yourself, bud." Nebula responded as AL would laugh and gargle in his blood simultaneously.

"Haharughghghghgh!" The afro warrior gurgled/laughed.

"No, I mean you. You, however, I'm pretty sure you're not gonna live another 24 minutes, if not seconds." The assassin clarified as he pointed at AL, who in a display of childish behavior and gore, stuck out his tongue which also let out some blood as well.

"Dude. Stop. You're gonna die if you keep doing that. You're already bleeding more than my mom on her period." Nebula compared, which got the assassin to stifle a laugh as AL would start to silently cackle.

"What is wrong with you people?" The hitman asked with a confused and slightly entertained expression.

"Says the person who murders people for a living." Nebula retorted as he gave the assassin a deadpan look back.

"Point. Now, I'm going to give you 24 hours to live, because I need to hear one more shitty joke from you before I end you. You can pick the place, but the time will be at midnight. Come alone, or else whoever you bring will end up like him," The assassin instructed, pointing to AL with his sickle.

"Duly noted. What if I bring him back?" Nebula asked as he looked at his friend. He would then look back at the assassin.

"... You can bring him. If he survives." The wounded hired killer compromised, albeit unfairly from the surface level.

"Well then. It's time to take my leave-" The hitman was cut off.

"Before you go. Give me something to call you by. I wanna know who's teeth I'm knocking out, if you catch my drift." Nebula sent a cocky smirk as the assassin sniggered back.

CLACK!

"A name? Well, if you insist. Don't try tracing it though, you'll find nothing of value. Call me Gris." The dark web hitman, now named Gris starectangular-shapedsome rectangular-shaped items on the ground.

SMOKESCREEN!!!

VANISH!!!

...

"And this is goodbye. The next time I see you it'll be your last, Nebula." Gris warned the god before the smoke bombs went off as he chuckled, clouding their vision as Nebula and AL sensed that Gris had moved at extremely high speeds and out of their sensing range in less than 3 seconds.

OUTSTRETCH!

GLOW!!!

"Gris, huh. Well then, looks like we have a date and time. C'mon AL. Let's get you to some medical attention." Nebula told his downed buddy as he gave his friend some of his KI in its most basic form.

Murky green energy seeped into AL as some of his minor wounds would be gone, but the exploded skin, gash marks, and other big injuries remained.

The warrior shakily got up as he would be caught by Nebula. It was akin to the Heal skill, but instead of outright restoring your health, this variation only restored lost stamina.

"Get me to a hospital..." AL gargled before he spat out some more blood.

"Ptoo!"

"With what money. You spent it on your clothes. Compa and some Healing Pods are your best bet right now." Nebula provided the alternative solution as AL cursed under his breath.

"Beauty hurts, doesn't it?" The CPU pointed out.

"That expression didn't account for a hired killer, ass," AL responded weakly.

"But it still fits, doesn't it?" Nebula raised a brow.

"...That's what she said." AL rebutted, having nothing better to say.

VANISH!!!

REAPPEAR!!!

"Shut up." Nebula snorted, as AL gargled a laugh as they would reach the door with a quick combined effort of vanishing.

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!

They then knocked on the door, as if they were being chased down.

"Let me in! LET ME IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!" Nebula hollered.

The door swung open wildly with Nepgear, Compa and IF all awake with their weapons at the ready.

"What do you-" IF began, until she saw the state of AL and the ripped-up jacket of Nebula. Her face went from startled awareness to awe.

"You guys?! What happened?! Why is AL all bloody and messed up?!" Nepgear asked next, concern and surprise apparent in her voice.

"He got jumped." Was Nebula's short and true explanation.

"Bring him here! We can't waste any time!" Compa directed as she carefully took AL with Nebula's help and laid him down on the bed.

AL gave Nebula the lenny face as he was being held by Compa. Nebula ignored it as he checked the time.

1:02 A.M.

'Thought it would be a little earlier than that.' Nebula looked, astounded as Compa began to do what she did best. Bandage and using SP Skills with healing items as she identified the injuries present.

"Stay with me, AL!" The Nurse-In-Training pleaded as AL looked up into the ceiling dramatically.

"Grandma... Is that you...?" He would say in between some First Aid, which got Compa to frantically plead with him not to pass on.

"Please AL, don't be the first patient that dies on me!" She begged, teary-eyed as Nebula literally imagined his friend cackling in his head.

"You still haven't gotten her inheritance money, AL." Nebula reminded the dying man as Nepgear and IF looked at him for his statement and then at AL.

"Wait, Grandma! Not yet! I still have to get that super rare each card with that 1% summon rate...!" The dying man snapped back to reality as life returned into his eyes. IF facepalmed at the man's antics as Nepgear gave a confused smile.

"Really?" IF asked, unimpressed.

"At least he's not dead?" Nepgear opted for the two of them.

"But he's still alive." Nebula sighed as he facepalmed. He loved AL like the brother he never had, but the materialistic possessions had some sway with him. A little too much sway. But if it brought him back, it might not be so wack.

"So how did this even happen?" IF switched her gaze to Nebula, looking for some answers.

"It wouldn't have if you just let us inside." He laced his reply with an evasive tone.

"Just tell us already." IF pushed, wanting the truth.

"Alright, alright. Here's what happened... Take it away, AL." Nebula shifted the responsibility onto his best friend.

"What- why me? She asked you!" AL asked as he rejected the spotlight. He then felt a new sensation as Compa began to bandage his upper body.

"Because you were there for WAY longer than I was. And he tried to kill you off so that you wouldn't spill the beans that you automatically picked up by being there for so long." Nebula explained say as Nepgear exclaimed.

"Who tried to WHAT?!" Nepgear shouted, very concerned for the two's well-being as their friend.

"Can somebody start explaining already!" IF asked either one of the males, which would prompt AL to start talking.

"I got attacked and almost died from a hitman that was hired by ASIC to assassinate Nebula," AL explained quickly which got the room silent again.

"...What?!" Compa exclaimed in shock, which got Nepgear to speak next.

"ASIC has hitmen?!" The CPU Candidate worried, as if they could send one, they surely could send more after not just Nebula, but the group as a whole.

"They hired him. So no, Gear. They do not have hitmen on speedial." IF explained, which got the goddess to calm down a bit.

"Oh. Well, that's good to know. But what if they hire more?" She asked again, still very concerned.

"Then we deal with it. AL only got his ass kicked because he was caught off guard in a dark alley somewhere. That's their element, NepG.

Look, I'll track him down tomorrow night and deal with him myself." Nebula tried to calm the CPU Candidate down, as IF spoke once more.

"But he was hired to kill you. There's no way you can go by yourself. You'd get picked off." IF analyzed as she looked at the adventurer.

"And I know that IF. But I already got a gauge on his power. And to me, he's not all that foreboding and intimidating as you'd think. I wouldn't say that's all he has to him, but right now it would be best not to reveal the rest of you girls to him, lest he reports back to his superiors for reinforcements." The god explained as the other 3 listened.

"But what if he brings his friends, Neb-Neb?" Compa raised a good question.

"Then I'll go HDD." That was the simple answer. "Look, I can handle myself. You guys just focus on getting the Mascot. AL is gonna come too, probably because he's salty he got flexed on or something." Nebula assumed as AL shot him a dangerous look.

"You bet your pseudo protagonist ass I'm going. I'm not letting no shoujo protagonist get the better of me!" AL said to both him and himself as he winced again as Compa tied the bandage a little too tight. "Compa that hurts! Owowowowowowow!!!" He alerted the nurse.

"Oops! Sorry, AL." The nurse apologized as she released some of the tension on the bandage.

"But are you sure you don't need us there? I don't want it to be a situation where that guy has his friends to overpower the two of you." IF asked one final time.

"We'll be fine. Have some faith in us. If I can bail AL out the first encounter, I can definitely pull through in a 1v1. And if he brings more peeps with him, AL'll jump in. If push comes to shove, I can just fall back on HDD while AL calls you guys or something. Worst case scenario... Won't happen, because I am the pseudo protagonist! So trust us!" Nebula made his grand speech, getting a little meta at the end as IF just sighed and accepted it.

"Alright then. Let's hit the hay, people. You can too when you're finished patching him up Compa." IF said after deciding to let the two go after the assassin, as they were in a sense right about them retrieving the mascot.

"He really is similar to Nep." The Guild Agent muttered. "The only difference is that he's somewhat smarter." He continued.

"You got it, Iffy!" Compa heeded as she finished up treating AL's upper body.

"Sounds like a plan," Nepgear said as she went back to her bed.

"Where's my bed?" Nebula asked.

"The couch." IF responded.

"Say sike right now." Nebula looked her dead in the eyes as she remained unmoving.

...

"This will come back to nip you in the flat iron ass, IF. Nebula warned menacingly he then moonwalked towards the bathroom without emotion, to take a shower as he maintained eye contact.

"I'll watch out for it. Hey!" IF smirked before going to the bedroom quarters, stopping and turning around as she blushed furiously from the insult.

"And my bed?" AL would ask.

"The convertible couch." IF responded, the same tone of voice to boot. She wouldn't even look his way as she entered the bedroom.

"You b..." AL stopped himself mid-sentence as he bit down on his tongue. Compa looked down at him as she asked him a question.

"What were you gonna say, AL?" She asked, curious of his verbal intentions.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He told the nurse as IF closed the door to the bedroom and Nebula to the bathroom.

The morning after, the group of quintessential adventurers rested and were now walking through the streets of Lastation, with the overhead sun to shine down upon the populous.

The contrast between night and day would be ever-present as they walked through the city as the industrial buildings and corporations were much more visible in the sunlight.

The air smelt surprisingly clean for a city that had factories in many sectors, but that was its charm, to an extent since it could be so productive and do so little to Gamindustri's bizarre environment.

AL now wore a white simple white T-shirt with maroon sleeves that said 'MAKE SOME NOISE' in the same color text and had on some navy blue jeans with the cleaned version of his shoes from last night. He also had visible bandages up to his neck and his wrists. He also had on some in areas he'd rather leave out as he had suffered the same fate of telling Compa to omit below the belt.

Nebula took taken off his jacket, as he was wearing a spruce blue vest that had three pixelated red hearts on it, and put back on his old wristbands, scarf, and armor with his jeans from yesterday with his shoes.

And the rest of the girls switched from their pajamas to their regular clothes. The group was currently discussing their next move as they explored the streets.

"So this is what Lastation looks like in the daytime, huh? I can see all the hardware stores much clearly now!" Nepgear noted as she marveled at all the technology up for sale.

"And it's really busy right now. Look at all these people!" Compa pointed out as they would be walking by many adults clad in businesswear, as well as kids and teenagers going to school, amongst the general population.

AL switched his gaze as he looked to all the spraypainted walls of the Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime abbreviated, or ASIC on some obscure places.

"It's also influenced by ASIC a lot here. No wonder they got that assassin to drop you." AL told Nebula, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"I'd rather just go for the fact that people care about me enough to try to snuff me out rather than some malicious organization is just salty I beat some scrap metal a couple of days ago." The blue-haired party member responded as they walked ahead.

"Whatever floats your boat." The bandaged male responded as he also shrugged.

"But that's beside the point. We're here to get some leads on the Mascot." IF got back on track as her face became serious.

"Right! Must. Not. Window... Shop...!" Nepgear struggled as she tried to avert her eyes from any tech shops.

"Where can we find any leads, Iffy?" Compa asked she thought about it.

"The Guild. We can probably find something of use in there and do some quests to recover lost Shares. Let's go, people." IF motioned as the others walked towards the Guild of Lastation.

When they arrived inside of the building, it had adventurers Guild Members present just like its Planeptunian counterpart, except that it was somewhat less populated. The interior even looked identical to the one back there as the 5 would enter the place after locating it on a city map.

"Talk about a sense of dejá vu... Kinda empty though." Nebula uttered as he looked around.

"You can say that again, Neb Neb." Compa agreed.

"Goes to show that ASIC has the place in its clutches pretty tight." IF explained as she had an unreadable expression on her face. "I hope we can get some legit intel in here." She hoped as Nepgear told them her course of action.

"Well, I'll go pick up some quests for us to do while you guys search for some information," Nepgear informed the group as she moved to the holographic quest board for some quests to take.

Nepgear diverged as the four went their ways, asking people for any leads or helpful information.

But with no real success besides being brushed off or given very unreliable information after a short while, they returned to the middle of the guildhall. This time, Nepgear wasn't alone as she returned.

Next to her would be a new girl that she had just become acquainted with. She had raven black hair, tied into some pigtails as they were held together with circular hair clips with light grey accents with ribbons underneath them, also black with light grey accents and two white lines in between the accents.

Her eyes were a dark red, with her attire consisting of a one-piece pleated dress with some arrow accessories with light grey accents by her waist, and with a circular symbol where the cleavage area would be situated. Not like she had much to show with those B cups, but that's beside point.

Her dress had multiple lines at the pleats, either thin white accents, or a light grey layer. She also wore matching arm warmers with matching accents and knee-high socks that matched her color scheme, and her shoes were black with the same circular symbol on them as well.

"Well well well. Look who made a friend." Nebula noticed with a raised brow and a curious smirk as he would look at the two girls side by side.

"We're not friends just yet." The blackette corrected. "But we're friendly acquaintances, though." She finished in a somewhat childlike, yet somehow serious and friendly voice.

"This is Uni. We just met!" Nepgear greeted/cheered as AL and Nebula looked at her with friendly expressions as Compa would greet her.

"Hi there, Uni. I'm Compa! Your friendly neighborhood Nurse-In-Training!" Compa would say as she would give a pure and cheery smile towards the girl.

"Heya." Uni greeted back as she waved politely.

"And I'm AL!" AL introduced himself as he pointed to his person with his thumb. Uni switched her gaze to take in the fighter as she hadn't really interacted with many males outside of the Basilicom staff.

"And this is my good ol' pal, Nebula." He subsequently introduced Nebula, who just raised a hand invalidation as he looked Uni's way and answered.

"Sup, Uni." Nebula bid hello as he would take his two fingers and send a greeting by motioning them forward off his forehead as he smiled pleasantly.

"Hi, you guys." She simply responded. They seemed nice enough, so she returned their greeting.

"I'm IF. It's a pleasure to meet you." IF greeted.

Uni nodded in affirmation as she greeted the Guild Agent back.

''So now that introductions are out of the way, did you get any quests, Gear?" IF questioned the CPU Candidate as she responded.

"Yep. We have to slay some monsters in Rebeat Resort. With the 6 of us, it should be a breeze!" Nepgear said happily as the others would nod in agreement. Uni just observed the demeanor of everyone in the group as they nodded.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" AL asked as he cracked his knuckles. "Let's get this show on the road." He finished as Nepgear took the lead as the party of 6 ventured off to the quest location.

"Right. Let's go, everyone." The purple-haired goddess led as they left the Guild Building. It would be about 20 minutes from Lastation to Rebeat Resort, with AL making a quick detour to but some Healing Pods and SP Chargers with his remaining Credits as he was still spooked from last night.

"Must... Stock up... On supplies...!" AL chanted in a hurried tone as Nebula looked amused with a deadpanned IF, curious Compa, slightly off-put Uni, and a neutral Nepgear as they watched him stockpile items for the quest.

Again.

"Rebeat Resort is pretty nice if I do say so myself," AL commented as he looked around, lugging the humongous bag on his back, but filled with items instead of belongings as they walked on the stylized walkways with many patterns on the ceramic paths.

The oceanside was nice and calm as the clear blue water was what the group would see for miles on end in every direction that wasn't the coastline.

The clouds were fluffy and far and towards the horizon as the sky was as clear as the ocean. Several odd architectural structures with an unknown purpose, and would probably never be known, mysteriously charming for the resort.

"Mhm. Really good if you like the water. Just don't fall off. It'll be especially bad for you since you control fire." Nebula joked as Uni picked up on that tidbit.

"Dude. Just because I control it doesn't mean I'm made of it." The fire user clarified with a bored expression as he looked at Nebula. He got a knowing expression from his friend.

"Just don't fall~" Nebula reminded in a dumb voice as AL rolled his eyes with a small scoff.

Meanwhile, Compa and Nepgear were talking near the front of the group.

"I can't believe you made a new friend so quick, Ge-Ge." The Nurse-In-Training pointed out, proud of her friend.

"We just met, but I guess you could say we're friends." Nepgear would say as Uni would stiffen at the word 'friend'. It went unnoticed by everyone except a neutral Nebula and an observant IF.

"And looks like you have a lot of friends, too. No wonder, with those noodle arms you have." Uni observed with an amused smirk.

"Hey, they're not noodle arms. Ok, maybe they're kind of..." Nepgear started.

"Stop with the self-depreciation, Gear. We've been through this already." IF cut out the bad habit that Nepgear was about to show, another cue that not only Uni picked up, but a quiet Nebula as well.

"But still, there's 6 of us. This quest is gonna be over like nobody's business. Let's get it over with, alright?" Uni cheered up the CPU Candidate with her words as the purple-haired girl dropped her indecisive demeanor.

"Got it," Nepgear responded as they moved forward.

The six took out monsters left and right, as Uni would showcase a new type of weapon. A rifle.

It was akin to what the assassin used, except for a more long-range use than his pistol, even if all guns are technically long-ranged.

She sniped enemies that would be far away, or finished them off after Nepgear would slash them, IF or Compa stabbed them, or Nebula and AL kicked and punched them.

KICK!

"Heads up, Uni!" Nebula called as he back kicked a Fish Zombie towards the gunner.

BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!

PIXELATE!

Uni raised her rifle and unload on the monster, filling it with holes as it neared. It pixelated right before it reached her as she moved on to the next target.

BANG!!!

POUNCE!-

BZZZZT!!!

She turned around to see a Babyvader about to sneak up on Nepgear as she was dealing with a Delinquent Cat. She fired a Paralysis Shot as it was about to ambush her ally.

GRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

PIXELATE!

The shot hit dead center into its side as she heard the impact, the monster now stuck in place with static around it. She then unloaded on the monster as Nepgear would finish off the Delinquent Cat.

"Thanks, Uni!" Nepgear yelled as she moved on to the next monster.

"Roger!" The gunner girl responded as she advanced as well.

The group of six were fodderizing the monsters left and right as they pressed on and on, moving through the dungeon with maximum efficiency.

Not too long after, they would reach the end of the dungeon.

"There. Was that easy or what?" Uni asked, confident in their ability.

"That was incredibly quick! You really had our backs there, Uni!" Nepgear told the gunner girl as the others joined in.

"Miss Sharpshooter's got some game. Nice job." AL gave a thumbs up.

"Not one miss. Got to hand it to ya." Nebula complimented as he put his hands in his pockets and nodded in response.

"You can handle that gun, huh?" IF noted as Compa joined in.

"Those monsters didn't see what hit them!" She said right after IF.

"Yep. You guys did pretty well too, from what I saw. Not as good as me, of course." Uni folded her arms with a cocky smirk as she closed her eyes, her gun being sent back to the inventory.

This caused AL and Nebula to look at each other as they shared the same thought as she slightly cringed.

'Please don't tell me she's a...'

They shook the notion as Nepgear responded.

"How flattering." She told the girl with a sincere smile, ignoring the condescending tsundere tone within. They then talked some more as the guys moved away.

"Look at that. A genuine smile from Nepgear." IF noticed. "The first time we've seen that since rescuing her." She continued before Compa voiced her opinion.

"They're already best friends so quickly." The nurse also pointed out as Nebula added in.

"They seem to have a lot in common from what I see. Both are young, both do quests, both fight pretty well. No wonder they're gonna be good friends." The CPU listed.

"When you put it that, it almost seems obvious. Like they're meant to be together or something." AL thought about it with a raised brow.

"Who knows." That was all the god would respond with.

"I know it's nice... But I'm a bit jelly inside. I mean, I've known Nepgear way more than that Uni girl." The cream-haired nurse complained.

"C'mon now. Don't be jealous over kids being kids, Compa." IF told her best friend.

"Yeah, Comps. NepG needs some interaction with girls her age-" Nebula began to speak, before being interrupted by a new voice.

"The hell are you people doing? Having a picnic in the middle of a dungeon?" A female voice rang out as the 4 looked around for the source.

"Huh?-"

BONK!!!

IF questioned before being struck on the back of the head by a crowbar. The same was dealt with Compa.

"Gaaah!" The Guild Agent yelled out.

BONK!!!

"Owie!" The Nurse-In-Training squeaked

WEAVE!

ROLL!!!

AL and Nebula picked up the girls as they narrowly dodge the blows aimed towards their heads as they became on guard in the nick of time, sliding back towards Nepgear and Uni with the knocked girls in tow.

"IF?! Compa?!" Nepgear yelled in surprise as she looked at their pained faces as they were still woozy, leading to unconsciousness.

"What happened to them?" She asked the two males. Before they could answer, the voice would beat them to the punch.

"Got rid of the chaperones before the fight with barely any effort. Next up... You stupid little brats!" She answered.

The girl had light green hair that was over her shoulders and in an open mouse hoodie with a grey, yellow, red, white, and black color scheme with the inside being maroon and the back having a broken heart design that was and showing her midsection as it was covered with nothing but a tube top that was black with a yellow and red shape broken heart on each side with crossbones on the heart.

She also had 2 belly button piercings on her stomach as well. Her irises would be a dark red, akin to Uni but a wee bit darker. She wore a choker that resembled a belt as it was on her neck. Her skin appeared to be a pale dark grey, which made her race unknown as she also had pointed ears. She had on black gloves that reached to her wrist that had a white zig-zag pattern on them and were red on the palms. Her pants were baggy and covered black on the waistline.

Her shoes were some black combat boots, akin to another person the males had encountered, with the difference being that the welt was white. She stood at 4"10' and was an A cup.

Why that last bit of info was relevant, we may never know.

It's because she's-

"Who's this?" Uni asked, suspicious.

"Looks like she hung out behind the bleachers during lunch." AL compared her to as Nebula snorted.

"With a pack of smokes and emo friends? I hate my parents because they wouldn't let me get my ears pierced-" Nebula added. This got the duo to chuckle as the girl got mad at the two of them.

"Shut it, ya assholes!" She barked at them. This got the laughter to die down as Nepgear stated her identity.

"I think her name is Underling. She's one of ASIC's low ranking peons." The CPU Candidate explained.

"Ugh! And I told you to stop calling me that!" Underling growled, annoyed.

"Her name's literally Underling? Wow, her parents must hate her." Nebula picked up on.

"I doubt that's her actual name, but... It strangely fits." AL pointed out as he looked her up and down.

"IT'S NOT MY NAME YOU SMOOTH BRAINS!" Underling yelled at them, getting them to turn at her.

"Then what is your name?" Uni got to the point, not liking her character already.

"It's Linda! And I told that girl over there already! But they insist on calling me, damn Underling!" Underling raved as she would have been peeved by the miscommunication.

The four were quiet.

...

"Linda is underwhelming and too nice for a grunt. Underling it is." AL decided.

"It's already caught on." Nepgear agreed.

"Fine by me." Nebula accepted the judgment.

"Whatever." Uni rolled her eyes, not really caring for the name of Underling since she was working with ASIC. "So you're with them, huh. Let me take her out, you guys." She told the group members as she took a step forward.

"No way! I can't just let her get away with hurting my childhood friends!" Nepgear declined as she would take a step forward with Uni.

"Well, rock paper scissors for who has to watch IF and Compa," AL told his friend as Nebula nodded. They would level their fists.

"Jankenpon!"

"Ha! Paper beats rock, boi!" Nebula cheered say as AL grumbled.

"But I've never lost a game of rock paper scissors in my life-" AL was in disbelief.

"YEAH BOIIIIIIII-" The adventurer started to meme.

"Go and help them before I say best out of three." AL shooed as Nebula handed Compa's unconscious figure to his friend before getting up.

He then walked to the side of Nepgear that was free as the three of them stared down Underling.

"Quit the yapping, wouldja? You caught me off guard last time, but this time I'll beat you to a... Huh?!" Underling was cut off as she witnessed the presence of not 1, not 2, but 3 wretched CPUs.

TRANSFORM!

"Haaaaaaaaaa!" Nepgear shouted out before a white pillar of pink light with blue digital numbers surrounding it engulfed her. When it died down, her CPU form, Purple Sister appeared.

TRANSFORM!

Next was Nebula, as he yelled out the words, "Access! HAAA!" As his white pillar of cyan light with his neon green colored digital numbers appeared. When that dissipated, Brave Heart stood among them. He muttered under his breath, "Yare yare daze."

And finally, Uni underwent the CPU transformation process, albeit without saying anything.

TRANSFORM!

She was covered in the same pillar and digital numbers encircling it as Nepgear but emerged completely different when she was seen again.

Her hair turned a silvery-white, akin to Gris, as her pigtails became drills as they became smaller the more they went down. Her eyes became a bright emerald green with white glowing power signals as her clothes would have become-piece one-piece swimsuit type wear with some futuristic grey and white accents and the same circular symbol on her chest right above her... depreciated assets cough A cup cough.

She also had on some gloves that went up to her arms and had braces with a grey centerpiece. Her boots consisted of futuristic high heels, with the symbol and some green dots on the center below the symbol. Her boots went up to her thighs with some grey accents, also showing some skin, just like with her gloves. She stood at a short 4'10'' compared to the CPU god.

This would be Black Sister, the CPU Candidate of Lastation.

The trio of deities stared down the ASIC member.

"What the hell?! You've gotta be kidding me over here! Three of them?! And one's a dude! How does that even work?!" Underling shouted, flabbergasted as the three then immediately charged her.

It was safe to say, that Underling stood little to no chance this match.

Like a drop in a bucket to the ocean.

A candlelight to a firestorm.

A starter character to a New Game Plus boss-

OUTSTRETCH!

CRUSH!

The fight commenced with Nebula putting out his hand towards the opponent and using Downforce to keep Underling restricted.

SLAM!!!

"Gah!" The ASIC grunt yelled out in surprise and pain as she was sent to the ground.

BURST!!!

While doing this, he quickly charged an orange KI ball within his hands before chucking it at her.

BLAST!

BOOM!

"Catch!" The male CPU shouted before he threw the blast at Underling. It exploded on contact as she would cry out in pain.

"Argh!" Underling cried out.

GRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!

DISPERSE!!!

The goddesses then advanced, with Uni lining the area engulfed in smoke with bullets, causing it to disperse as it revealed a damaged Underling that was soon subjected to gunfire reigning down on her.

"OW!" Underling yelled in agony as she was hit by multiple bullets.

SWING!

SLICE!!!!!!

WOOSH!

And because she was not only restrained, but distracted as well, she didn't see Nepgear coming from the opposite ide to deliver a powerful swing of her sword, landing not only a direct, but critical hit.

"DAMMIT!" Underling wailed in anguish as she was hit out of Brave Heart's gravitational hold.

SWING!

SLASH!

CLASH!!!

She quickly grasped her pipe as she got up and swung back at Nepgear, but was parried as the two of them clashed.

''Hah!" The grunt grunted as she swung.

BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!

Underling found herself beginning to be bested mid clash, and even more so when Brave Heart and Uni started to fire several blasts and bullets at her from either side.

"Aaaah!"

SKID!!!...

Underling screamed out as she was attacked from every side but the flank, before she was literally pushed right at the edge of the arena, with nothing but ocean behind her.

Nepgear continued her frontal assault as she then used an SP Skill to push the battle even more in their favor.

"Slash Wave!"

WAVE!!!

Nepgear called out at point-blank, causing the following impact to almost blow Underling off of the platform.

BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!

"Guaaaah!" Underling shouted, now secretly fearing for her life, as she was going to be pushed off the edge from the next attack if the aerial assault from the other two deities didn't cease.

"Tch!"

VANISH!

REAPPEAR!

Brave Heart, in an act of either misguided mercy or plain intolerance of underwhelming character death, decided to cease his assault, vanish, and reappeared behind Underling before firing off an attack of his own.

''Bakuhatsu!"

BLAST!

BOOM!!!

The CPU helped as he outstretched a single hand, the other grabbing his outstretched arm's inner elbow as he fired.

TUMBLE!

"Whoa!" Underling was caught off guard as she was flung back to the center of the arena, sliding on her face a bit before tumbling onto her ass.

She got up tiredly, extremely spent from the last assault if her scratched and dusty clothes were anything to go by.

"Venom Shot!"

BLAST!

She then looked up in time o see Uni firing the finishing blow on her.

FALL BACK!

SPRAWL!

SKID!...

The shot hit Underling in the chest before she sprawled on her back as the battle had been decided.

CHARGE...!

She tried to get up, only to be stopped by Brave Heart, who had his left arm holding the inner elbow of his right as his other arm was outstretched with orange energy forming at his palm.

"Looks like this is checkmate." The long-haired CPU god gave a snigger as Underling returned a snarl.

"Dammit!" She cursed as Uni landed to his left, gun pointed towards the ASIC infantry's face with power as she was getting ready to fire.

Nepgear flew towards them and landed at Brave Heart's right, with her sword in hand and pointed towards Underling.

"Get ready to eat lead." Uni threatened as her gun almost finished charging.

Nepgear then said the obligatory good guy phrase, in contrast to Uni's serious threat. "If you surrender and leave ASIC, then we'll spare you!" She output to the fallen member.

"No freakin' way...!" Underling refused, which would get Uni to get ready to fire.

"Then say goodbye-" The goddess was interrupted.

"Hold up. I have an alternative." Brave Heart provided as his energy faded away before the space around his hand began to ripple the air around it.

This spooked Underling as her eyes would widen.

GRAVITY!

"W-What are you gonna do with that?!" She cowered at the intense pressure she felt within the hand.

"SAYONARA, BIAAAAAATCH!"

REPULSION!

BOOM!

WOOSH!

CRASH!!!

Brave Heart roared as he exerted a powerful wave of Repulsion towards Underling, which sent her flying off of the arena, and towards the coastline of Lastation with the wind whistling behind her. From Rebeat Resort, you could see a small explosion of sand form on the coast.

"What the hell was that?!" AL frantically ask, flabbergasted at the fact that he did not only absolutely flex on Underling, but also hauled her across the ocean at the speed of sound with the flick of his wrist.

"That was sad, that's what that was." Brave Heart answered as he would walk away from the edge.

"What... Did you do?" Purple Sister questioned, concerned and miffed, just like AL.

"Sent her hurling to the coast at Mach 1. She should survive, and be relatively stuck. We can interrogate her as soon as we get those two up." Brave Heart pointed at IF and Compa.

"And you're a CPU? I thought only, Neptune, and the other CPUs and CPU Candidates could transform. And I'm pretty sure they're all girls. So how did you end up becoming one?" Purple Sister would describe as AL would nod in agreement, and Uni just stared at the two of them as if they were strangers. Intrigued at the prospect of a male CPU, yet had a very distant expression towards Purple Sister.

"I ask myself that question every damn day, and I still don't have a reasonable answer other than I picked up some rock that did this to me. So, take that info with a grain of salt, NepG." Brave Heart tried to rationalize his explanation.

"You're both... CPUs." Black Sister muttered, taken aback by her apparent peers. Nepgear then turned around to just notice, that Uni was a CPU as well.

"You too, Uni? That means that you're Lastation's CPU Candidate!" Purple Sister stated the obvious in a jubilant tone as Brave Heart and AL looked at the white-haired goddess carefully, seeing her defensive manner.

"Tch!" She grumbled as she closed her eyes, looking clearly uncomfortable.

"We came to look for you! Could you please help us? We want to rescue our sisters- the CPUs- and save Gamindustri." Purple Sister pleaded. But Uni wasn't having any of it.

"Shut up! Don't come any closer, you traitor!" She snapped, causing Brave Heart to have a confused and slightly off look with a startled AL, as Purple Sister's face fell.

"Huh?" The Planeptunian goddess reeled back in shock.

"Why are YOU here?! Why you and not my sister, huh?!" Black Sister demanded in an accusing tone. Purple Sister was saddened as she tried to explain to her friend.

"Well... That's because..." She tried to explain but faltered.

"She didn't let me go with her 3 years ago. I could have saved them! I could have done what you failed to do!" Black Sister continued as the duo of dudes looked at Purple Sister, who would be responding.

"I'm... Terribly sorry. I couldn't rescue them back then, but I'm doing my best to go rescue them now!" She tried to salvage the conversation.

"Shut up! I don't want to ever see your face or hear your voice again!" Black Sister yelled before blasting off into the air.

"Uni, wait!" Purple Sister called out, and even try to follow her, but would be grabbed by the arm from Brave Heart as he shook his head.

"Leave her be. She needs some time to herself. Lest you get chewed out again." The CPU told his peer as she sighed in defeat.

"Man, you two should have cut into that conversation and educated her ass on why she wouldn't do jack shit in that hellhole!-" AL began, before being interrupted by the waking voices of IF and Compa.

"Ouch... That damn Underling, smashing us behind the head like that." IF complained as she held the back of her head as she slowly got up.

"My head's gonna have a big bump later... Hey, where'd Uni go?" Compa asked, confused as she looked around after she rubbed the back of her head.

"Uni..." Nepgear made a dejected call to her friend, downtrodden as she would have tears at the corner of her eyes.

"She's gone. To where I do not know. But what I do know, is that we have to get a move on. We still haven't found the Mascot, and ASIC could be mere hours away from smashing it or something. We have to go."

REVERT!

Brave Heart picked up the sorry state of the party members sans AL as he would revert to his human form.

"Nebula's right. We don't have any time to waste. Let's go, Gear." IF called on the CPU Candidate as she would call the sad goddess.

"Huh? Right."

REVERT!

She responded before reverting as well, as they would then move back to Lastation.

When the group that lost a member returned to the city, Compa popped a question while the 5 were once again walking through the streets of Lastation.

They turned in the quest for an arbitrary amount of Credits and were talking about the Mascot.

"So no luck on finding the Mascot, huh?" The Nurse-In-Training asked

"Nuh-uh, Comps. Nobody here knows anything from what we've asked." Nebula relayed his experience to the nurse.

"You think they don't know anything about it?" Nepgear questioned.

"It'd make a pretty good guess," AL responded with some compliance with the theory.

IF sighed with closed eyes before voicing her course of action as they opened once more.

"Man, I really didn't want it to come to this but we've run out of options. We'll pay a visit to the Oracle." IF decided as she looked towards the group members.

"Oracle? Right! Every nation has someone like Histoire to help them, don't they?" Nepgear wondered.

"They do. And shouldn't we have done this in the first place?" Nebula raised a confused brow as AL agreed wholeheartedly.

"You can say that again." The fighter voiced his agreement as he walked with the party.

"Yeah Iffy, why didn't you go to her in the first place if you knew she could help?" Compa wanted to know as well.

"Well... I still don't want to go by her, mainly because she doesn't have the best reputation, in a sense." She iterated as Nebula put his two cents in.

"Better than nothing, IF. It's better than nothing." The god repeated as the Guild Agent groaned.

"He's right, IF. It can't hurt to have a look, right?" Nepgear told the Guild Agent as IF finally stopped her groaning and gathered her resolve.

"You guys are right. Let's go pay this oracle a visit.'' IF nodded as she lead the party towards the Basilicom.

As they walked, AL remembered an important detail.

"Didn't we have somebody to interrogate?" AL asked the group.

"Uh... Don't worry about it, she's just an Underling." Nebula punned, causing the other warrior to sigh and facepalm simultaneously.

"I don't know what's worse, the fact you forgot or that you made a pun about it."

"Yes." Was all the adventurer replied.

A/N:

Heya there, reader!

If you're seeing this, this is a rewrite of the chapter, just to correct some repetition, fix some spelling errors, and improve the spelling quality, especially in the earlier chapters.

So remember, italics and bold is going for gold.

Yes, indeed.

Uni finally makes an appearance in the fanfic for a good chunk, only to be thoroughly dissatisfied with Nepgear's initial survival. Harsh, but... It's Uni. It'll sort itself out.

Underling also makes an appearance! As powerful as the average ASIC grunt as well? Will we ever call her Linda? Will she ever be taken seriously? Probably not, but it's good to keep hope.

Gris the Edgy OC! What's in store for his return? Will he wield a gun for his neutral special? Does he receive more character development? Is this questioning tone every sentence I make getting repetitive? Yes, indeed.

Arrivederci.

Read and Review!